Ninety-one suspects from around the nation have been charged of swindling the government of around $295 million in Medicare fraud schemes, U.S. authorities say. Included in that list are doctors and nurses who “treated the Medicare program like a personal piggy bank,” Justice Department criminal division head Lanny Breuer told reporters. More than 400 law enforcement agents have been conducting a sweep in cities like New York, Houston, Detroit, Dallas, Chicago and Miam. Also in Miami, defendants were charged with nearly $160 million in false billings for procedures like HIV treatment, occupational therapy, and home and mental health services, Reuters reports. Often, the treatments weren’t necessary or were never administered, according to court documents.
